Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma (食戟のソーマ) has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since
late 2012, and is written by Yūto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki. An
interesting thing to note is that the recipes are provided by an additional
collaborator, Yuki Morisaki.

Shokugeki no Soma
has all the elements of a solid, good shōnen manga: Great art, somewhat simple
but entertaining humor, cool “battle” sequences, well-paced story progression,
and a cast of likeable, non-complicated characters. And of course, the amazing
amount of fan service and perfectly drawn panty shots, which will seem
ridiculously over-the-top to my fellow female readers. The ecchi is strong in
this one. Brace yo’ selves.

Yeah, that's a totally normal reaction...

Kyaaa ~ I wanna be kissed by Prince Apple too!! *swoon*

I’m not a particularly avid reader of the shōnen genre but I
had a hard time putting this one down. That’s right, even the sea of D cup
boobies couldn’t deter me. Because this isn’t just any shōnen manga. It is a… (Say it with me, guys) COOKING shōnen manga!!
Sorry, I’m just feeling very emotional right now, I love food so, so much. Live
to eat, not eat to live, you feel me?

The basic premise of the story revolves around Soma
Yukihira, who is an aspiring chef hell bent on surpassing his father’s cooking
skills and taking over their restaurant. Hey, who said you could yawn! I know
it’s a cliché set-up, but cliché doesn’t equate to bad. Especially when food is
involved.

We all look like those two guys right now, don't even deny it.

The story moves at a super-fast pace, making for great
development, and within the first few chapters, we’re taken through a whirlwind
of events. We see Soma’s dad very unceremoniously kick his son out of the
restaurant and move to America to cook at a top class hotel, while a bewildered
Soma gets swept into enrolling in an elite culinary school where the graduation
success rate is, get this, only 10%.

Damn, son. You can have a seat on me any time AHEM *cough* Geez, who said that.

A key focus in the plot is something you can find in the
manga title itself: “Shokugeki”. This is the term used for one-on-one cooking
challenges conducted by students in the academy. If one wants to officially
settle a dispute or challenge a rival, the Shokugeki is the only way to do it
in this school. But if you’re on the losing end, the consequences are dire and
often irreversible.

Essentially, you can see Shokugeki
no Sama as a light-hearted, battle-centric shōnen manga with a food twist.
Oh, and highlights include 10/10-would-bang eye candy, as well as the ludicrous
food tasting reaction drawings (See second and third pictures). Not to mention the generous amount of hashtag-worthy food
porn.

To sum it up...

Plot: 7/10 – Simple in concept but works
beautifully through great art and great action. No plus points for originality
here, but that’s not a bad thing in this case. Still, in a way, I feel vaguely
unsatisfied with the manga so far. There’s no “kick” or rather, lasting impact
that I get from reading it. You don’t get that distinct, intense surge of emotions like you would with some of the classic titles in the same genre such as One Piece or Slam Dunk.

Art: 9/10 – The artist has some serious drawing
skills. If you’re picky about art, this definitely won’t disappoint you. But
like I said, there is a lot of
senseless ecchi. But since when does ecchi make sense anyway, right?

Characters: 6/10 – Nothing to write home about.
However, in a story like this which is meant to entertain and not to be
thought-provoking, it would probably backfire if the characters were too
complex. The characters are easy to like and understand but they’re not exactly
memorable.

Personal enjoyment: 8/10 – I have a soft spot for stories that
centre on cooking and food, so I enjoyed this manga. It doesn’t skim on quality
art too, which makes for a great read.

Overall rating: 8/10 – It’s no surprise that the
volumes of Shokugeki no Soma have
been flying off store shelves since its first Tankōbon release, with more than
a million copies sold to date. It has all the qualities that a manga needs to
be commercially successful and appeal to younger audiences. I was debating
between ‘7’ or ‘8’ as an overall score, but I decided to give it the higher
mark in the end because it is
well-done. If you’re a food lover who’s searching for an entertaining read,
look no further and give Shokugeki no
Soma a try.If you decide to pick it up, do leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. We can drool over the recipes together, or like, fangirl over Prince Apple. I'm cool with anything.

I.O.E.A

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